ABSTRACT
Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab oil producer with around nine million barrels a day; in 1979 it accounted for nearly half of the total Arab oil production. Fred Halliday states that the “companies have deliberately reduced the labor component of oil production, partly in response to technical developments and partly to make output less vulnerable to political pressure. Small demographic base, low economic participation rate in the labor force, and low skill levels among native population are all factors constraining the supply of indigenous labor. The consequences of labor importation are as mixed and complicated for Saudi Arabia as those of labor exportation are for Egypt. The absolute and relative size of migrant labor, its pervasive role in the economy, and the fragility of social structures of host countries account for this vastly more significant impact. Oil, development, and related labor importation have generated other problems pertaining to expatriates and natives.
